Hey, y'all, it's my first story in a while, so tell me what you think, and please correct me if I get any technicalities wrong, it's been forever since I've seen Dark Fury and I never read the book. And always, never sugarcoat anything, I love to know how I can improve. Especially if you think I'm going off track with Riddick, please tell me if he's talking too much or getting too fluffy, I absolutely hate soft, I-love-you-so-much Riddick stories.

I don't own anything, blah blah blah, let's move on.

Riddick sat at the controls of the skiff, face in hands. Jack had finally passed out, still clutching the gun, and Imam was long gone. He looked through his fingers at the navigation controls and sighed… got to. If I drop them off now, she'll just follow me, however weak she may be. I can't leave her like this. Not after all she's been through. Moving reluctantly, Riddick changed the controls to Helion IV. Backwoods, but not so removed that people would go looking for him there. Give her some adjustment time, make sure she'll recover, and then he'll go and let Imam finish his hajj, take the girl somewhere bright and normal. She'll go to school, have friends, come home to a house and a family. She'll forget him, grow up quietly, marry some fuck, and that will be that.

Riddick turned the chair to face the girl. Do you really think it'll happen that way? He had induced a twelve-year-old girl to kill a man for him. That was his kill, and the twitching little body in that cot was his responsibility. That much devotion… The same determination had been in Carolyn's face, but that hadn't been for him. He was a cold-blooded killer, no one could possibly care that much. Not for him…

Riddick woke with a start, trying to remember how he had fallen asleep. "'More tired than I thought," he rumbled softly. The sound woke the girl, who's opening eyes first saw the gun cradled in her arms. She shoved it violently onto the floor, her face horrified. Jack lay shivering, now completely alone, and turned her eyes up to Riddick. Her eyes held so much pain, but she didn't say a word. Riddick couldn't take it any more.

"Come here, Jack." He said, straightening up. She crawled off her cot and onto his lap. He felt her warm little hand take a handful of his shirt, and warm tears fell onto his chest.

"He was right there, and I shot him. All of a sudden sound and he was all distorted. So much blood… And then just a hideous husk, it wasn't even him… I…" Her voice drifted off miserably, and Riddick rubbed her back the way he had seen a mother do once. Should she assure her of why she had to do it? No, no, he can't let her get any closer to him. She has to forget about him, then she can forget about the whole thing, and-

"But I had to, didn't I? He would have killed you… that would have been your body. I had to do it, right?" She turned her face up to him, begging him.

"He'd have killed me," he agreed as reasonably as he could. "And you'd still be on that ship." She closed her eyes and curled up tighter in his lap, still crying miserably. Riddick tried one more time to comfort her. "Never be sorry for a merc, Jack." Slowly, she drifted off to sleep, but he thought he heard her breathe the words "don't you dare" before fading away.

Riddick put a huge hand over Jack's already spiky head and closed his eyes. Somehow, in less than one standard day, Carolyn had taken a killer and a kid and made them family. It was as if he was still lying in the mud, being ordered to care. He had gone through the motions of exerting control over the situation, but really what she had done wasn't knocking Riddick to the ground. She did what she had to in order to get his attention, but she showed him what being human was. It was love. Now, he didn't know if that was what he felt for this kid, but, if for no one's sake but Carolyn's, god help anyone who would want to hurt her.

Riddick sat like this and thought, about the flying fuck trying to get at her, the monster and the ball, the man's gun at her head. He thought about how that could have gone if he hadn't been there. It wouldn't have happened at all. She needs to be stronger, but what she really deserves is to be away from me. She hears everything I say, and she's not going to just let go. Gotta ease out of it, teach her how to handle it. With a real life, she'll realize there's better things, better people.

And he knew it was right. Riddick knew that the longer he spent with her, the more danger she was in and the harder it would be to draw it away from her. But he couldn't help but wish that she would always need him like this, and he would always be there. He had never felt this furious need to protect something… Riddick followed her to sleep, his arms still wrapped protectively around her.